One of the Awards given out each year at the Leadership Awards ceremony is the Samuel E. Wood Award. Tsimnuj Xiong, the Stout Student Association Vice President, shared his knowledge of the award with Stoutonia.
“In 1958, the Stout State College Student Governing Board, which was the name of UW-Stout’s student government prior to what now we call the University Student Senate approved the creation and awarding of a Stout medallion to be given to students who have benefitted the university non-academically.” says Tsimnuj. The award itself is one of Stout’s most prestigious non-academic awards and is only given out to less than one percent of Stout students.
Tsimnuj expressed the award “would further be used to recognize a student’s achievements through leadership, involvement, and service.” The award was renamed in 1991 to its current name, which recognizes Samuel E. Wood, Assistant Chancellor of Student Services.
The Selection committee, which includes the Vice President of the Stout Student Association, the Involvement Center Advisor, three staff/faculty, and three students, reviews and selects the winners of the award. These “winners are invited to attend a dinner the night of the Leadership Awards where guest speakers and the Chancellor will be in attendance.” says Tsimnuj. They are also recognized at the Leadership Awards later the same night.
Tsimnuj Xiong also shared how to apply to the award if you think you might be eligible. He says “Students who will be graduating in the Spring or Fall of the next year (Spring 2023 and Fall 2023) are eligible to apply and receive this award. The application itself can be found on the Stout Student Associations Connect page including in our website https://connect.uwstout.edu/ssa/samuel-e.-wood/. This application will be available starting next December and run until early March, recipients will be selected and notified in April.”
